Wednesday, January 04, 2012

How much will you sacrifice to do your art?

Others have all the time in the world but no physical space or resources to work on their art. Either way moving forward requires change to create.

Do you need physical space? Rearrange a room at home. Give up something else in order to prioritize your art. A friend of mine gave up a closet and made it an office. She had to figure out somewhere else to put her clothes but she had a place to work on her art.

Do you need space of time to do your art? Do the painful work of examining your agenda. I understand this dilemma. Currently I'm working several jobs, one of which was supposed to be something I was covering temporarily but has turned out to last longer than I would have ever imagined. We're coming up on several years now, not months. If you had told me this back then I'd have either told you that you were crazy, ran away, or gone to my doctor to get Xanax. There are times I thought this would be the death of me.

I was really hoping that things regarding this particular issue would be different going into 2012. I thought everyone else held the keys to change in this area and felt powerless. But I have come to realize, change is always possible because I can change. At any moment I can change everything because I can change myself.

I can choose to make room for my art by making hard choices.
Because my art is important.

I have learned a big lesson the past week about just how important the current project I'm working on is. It will literally save people's lives. The urgency I feel is tremendous.

I can't afford to wait for the world to change. I must change.

I will not deprive the world of this art by refusing to make changes that will give me the space to create it.